


Into The Crystal Heart

by aperfectpearl (dimensionhoppingrose)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Core Four is the main focus though, Family, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Romance, Post-CYM, magic shenanigans, minor character cameos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 11:54:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18738499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimensionhoppingrose/pseuds/aperfectpearl
Summary: Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl find themselves trapped inside the temple after the Crystal Heart is damaged. Separated and at the mercy of manipulative magic, the group has to push through their deepest fears and desires, find each other, and get out. Easy, right?





	1. Broken

**Author's Note:**

> So this started as a dream where the gems were trapped in a haunted house, and spun out of control from there. What can I say, my brain has a mind of its own. Team fics are my weakness, so hopefully this doesn't come out too heavily focused on one character...

"Pearl, Steven, go left! Amethyst, with me!”

“Right!” All three confirmed they’d heard Garnet’s order and followed along accordingly.

“I think I miss corrupted gems,” Steven huffed as he kept pace with Pearl (no easy task considering their height difference). “At least they couldn’t make plans and _think_.”

“Fighting real gems is definitely a challenge,” Pearl agreed, turning a sharp corner. “Do they even know where they’re _going_?”

“What do you think they’re looking for?”

“I can’t even _begin_ to guess…”

It turned out that after thousands of years of hierarchy, not every gem on Homeworld was welcoming of the era three changes. Pink Diamond’s old court had been particularly loud, having been promised they would get their Diamond back, and feeling cheated now. How they were getting off world with ships, no one could begin to guess. This was the fourth time they had attacked in the last two months, and they mostly believed the Diamonds were involved. Mostly.

The attacking gems had chosen a different target this time, however — the temple. Specifically, one particularly irate jasper had barreled passed the fight on the beach, run through the house, and broken down the temple door with a large hammer — something Steven hadn’t known was possible. The temple had always seemed untouchable. Only the four of them could get in. It was _theirs_.

The jasper and two topazes had disappeared inside in the time it took for the Crystal Gems to poof and bubble their attackers on the beach. They found one topaz not far in, stuttering about being lost. The temple was doing its best to throw off the invaders. The other two gems had gotten away, though.

Why do you think they’re attacking the temple?” Steven asked as they turned down another hall. They were going after the topaz, who seemed to have disappeared.

“I have no idea.” Pearl shook her head. “There’s nothing in here for them, unless they think we secretly have Pink Diamond hostage.”

“I thought I was supposed to be Pink Diamond?”

“I don’t know what they’re thinking, there’s no point in attacking the temple unless—” Pearl cut off abruptly, eyes wide. “Oh no.”

“What?” Steven demanded. “What?”

“They’re not attacking our home. They’re attacking our _base_.” Pearl suddenly looked worried as she reached back, offering her hand to Steven. “We need to move faster.”

Steven nodded, understanding, and grabbed her hand. She pulled him off the ground even as they glowed, and Rainbow Quartz stumbled out of the glow. “Base?”

“Base. This is a war to them. Pink Diamond _is_ a hostage, and they want her back. The best way to fight back against someone is to take out their base.”

“Oh.” A pause. “ _Oh_.”

They came out into a large, pinkish-red room with clear crystal tubes running along the ceiling, all connected to a giant heart. The Crystal Heart. The topaz had drawn a spear, aiming it at the heart.

“No you don’t!” Rainbow Quartz called, producing their umbrella and throwing it tip first. It went right through the topaz, poofing her, and turned in a full circle, flying back to its owner’s hand. “Ha!” The fusion grinned, spinning the umbrella. “Now then, where are the others and that jasper…”

The jasper came flying through the door almost on cue, Garnet and Amethyst right behind her. “Garnet—!”

“I know!” Garnet called back. The jasper drew her hammer, and Rainbow Quartz quickly, dodged, whirling and firing off several energy shots. “Keep her down!”

“Doing my best here,” Rainbow huffed, gripping the umbrella like a sword and running forward. It looked like a flimsy weapon, but it met the jasper’s hammer with a bang that echoed through the room. “Wouldn’t say no to a little help.”

“I got this,” Amethyst called, drawing her whip and throwing it; it wrapped around the jasper, over-weighing her and sending her toppling over. Rainbow Quartz spun the umbrella so the tip was down, and stabbed the gem, poofing it.

“Well then.” They bent down, bubbling the jasper while Amethyst got the topaz. “Field trip to Homeworld?”

A high-pitched giggle drew everyone’s attention; their heads snapped up to see an aquamarine sitting on top of the heart. “You should’ve given up when you had the chance,” she called teasingly, drawing her wand. “We did try to be nice.”

“How the—?!” Was all they had time to get out before the small gem drove her wand into the heart.

It didn’t quite shatter, the way they might have assumed it would. The wand pierced the heart, energy running through the wand and down into the heart, leaving large cracks in its wake.

“Get down!” Garnet yelled. Rainbow Quartz dove, grabbing Amethyst and tackling Garnet to the ground, covering all four of them under the umbrella right as a blinding pulse of light white slept through the room.

“Oh man,” Amethyst groaned, daring to open her eyes as the light died away. “How did we miss that little bug?”

“She must have been hiding in the jasper’s hair.” Garnet sat up slowly, looking at the umbrella. “Nice.”

“It’s a very useful umbrella,” Rainbow Quartz said, tilting it back so they could look up at the heart. It was completely cracked all around, a faint light pulsing in the middle, like a heart trying to stay alive.

Then it faded, and the room went dark. “Uh.” Amethyst looked back at Rainbow Quartz and Garnet. “That’s not good.”

“No,” Rainbow Quartz agreed. “No, it most certainly is not.”

Garnet went to collect the aquamarine, who had been poofed in all the chaos. It was so quiet in the room. Almost oppressively quiet. The gem on Rainbow Quartz’ forehead lit up, illuminating the ceiling and giving them a good look at the tubes that ran through the temple. Everything was cracked and chipped. Garnet held up one hand, providing more light from her own gem.

“Does anyone else feel like something should be… I dunno, happening?” Amethyst waved her hands around. “I mean, this thing runs the entire temple.”

“Exactly.” Rainbow Quartz glowed as Steven and Pearl separated, and Pearl took over explaining.

“It’s literally the heart of the temple. What happens to a human when their heart is damaged?”

“Well, Greg gets all dramatic about it…” Amethyst’s voice drifted off as the implications set in. “Oh. Right. Humans die.”

“It’s not _just_ a heart, though,” Garnet said. “It’s magic. The heart was a container for it. All that magic’s escaped now.”

“We should get out of here,” Pearl said with a small frown, looking around. “That magic is dangerous. Who knows what it’s done to our rooms.”

“My stuff!” Amethyst yelped, whirling around. “Aw _man_!”

“Your junk piles, my swords, the waterfalls, the lava… it could all be anywhere right now. We’re lucky there are no more corrupted gems in here.”

They stuck together as they made their way out. Everything was dark — an unnatural kind of dark that the lights from Pearl and Garnet couldn’t pierce. The temple had never _scared_ Steven, even with all the times it had almost killed him. But it was a little scary now. He reached out to grab the hem of Pearl’s jacket without thinking. She looked down at him, smiling and resting a hand on his head. It felt weird to break the silence, but she could offer this comfort.

It took longer than it should have for them to finally acknowledge the obvious. “Guys?” Steven finally said quietly. “I don’t think there’s a door.”

They stopped in the middle of the hallway, exchanging looks. “There has to be a door,” Amethyst said. “They broke the door.”

“It’s not a door so much as a portal,” Pearl said, a finger tapping against her chin. “It takes the form of a door, but it can be changed. Like how it turns into a curtain for Sardonyx, or the different ways it opens for each of our rooms. It’s powered by magic.”

“So no magic, the door goes poof.”

Silence fell. “Are… Are we trapped in here?” Steven finally asked. “There’s no back door or anything?”

“We tried to set up a fail-safe,” Pearl said, looking at Garnet. “Rose did most of that work, but we can probably trigger it.”

“So why are we not doing that?” Amethyst asked.

“The trigger is at the top of the temple.”

“And how far away is that?”

“Well, the temple exists in its own space, separate from the actual cliff it’s built into, which makes calculating distances or even figuring out what level we’re on difficult—”

“Pearl,” Amethyst prompted her patiently. Pearl bit her lip, looking back at Garnet.

“We don’t know,” Garnet admitted. “The temple is constantly changing and shifting to accommodate for us. There isn’t a staircase we can take to get up. And the longer we spend wandering around, the more likely we are to find the escaped magic.”

“And what happens _then_?”

Steven’s phone rang before Garnet could answer. “Wow, I still have service?” He took it out, frowning. “I couldn’t even get service next to a satellite.” It was Connie. He answered and put it on a speaker. “Hey Connie.”

“ _Hey._ ” Connie sounded understandably bewildered. “ _So uh_ _… what’s going on_?”

“Wait, Connie,” Pearl said quickly. “Do you see the temple door?”

“ _I haven_ _’t gone inside yet, hang on. What are these bubbles?_ ”

“Pink Diamond’s court,” Garnet said. “Get Bismuth to help put them in Pink’s ship. We need to make sure they don’t pop.”

“ _Right_.” They heard Connie shuffling around, presumably going up into the house. Then silence.

“Connie?” Steven frowned, checking to make sure the call hadn’t dropped. “Are you—”

“ _There_ _’s nothing there_.” Her voice sounded faint. “ _No door, no hole where a door was, nothing. It_ _’s just rock_. _What_ happened _?_ ”

“Long story short, the thing that gives power to the temple was damaged, and now all power’s gone or escaped or something,” Steven said. “I… I think we’re trapped in here.”

“But we have an idea for getting out,” Pearl said. “In the mean time, Connie, can you help us?”

“ _Yeah, of course. Are you guys going to be okay? Is Steven going to starve_?”

“I have snacks in my gem,” Pearl said. “As long as this isn’t a prolonged thing…” She shook her head. “Get Bismuth, Peridot, Lapis, Greg, the Off-Colors, however many hands you can get. We’re going to need a _lot_ of fountain water to heal the Heart.”

“ _I_ _’m on it_ ,” Connie said. “ _Stay safe. Wait, Steven, you have service in the temple?_ ”

“Yeah.” Steven shrugged. “Magic, I guess.”

“ _True. I_ _’ll keep you guys updated_.”

She hung up, and Steven checked his phone battery. It was ninety-two percent. “Glad I charged it,” he murmured, storing it back in his pocket.

“Okay.” Pearl knelt, her gem flickering and projecting a multi-level floor plan. “The rooms move around and shift and change as we need, but there _is_ a static floor plan, more or less. The heart is supposed to be right in the middle of the temple, so…”

She counted the floors, stopping on the fourth. “Right around here. We were still in the the Crystal Heart room when it broke, so we didn’t move floors. In theory we should be able to trace our steps back to the Heart and make a plan to get up from there.”

“Sounds easy enough.” Amethyst looked around. “What’re we waiting for?”

“There’s one other problem,” Garnet said. “The magic that runs the temples and shifts it around and forms it is loose and not being controlled, which means it could do anything. The temple is connected to our gems so it knows what room we want when we open the door, or where we want to go when we’re inside, so it can shift accordingly.”

“Which means it can get into our heads and mess with us,” Pearl picked up. “Form your worst fears, your greatest dreams, anything right in front of you. We have no control over anything that happens in here now. We’re trapped in something that can access every thought we’ve ever had. If it’s with us, we’ll be fine. But if it’s working against us…”

“Then it’s going to do everything it can to stop us from getting out,” Steven concluded. Pearl nodded. “Okay, so first thing on the list, don’t get split up. Pearl, do you have any rope?”

“Yeah, of course.” She tapped her gem, summoning up the bundle of rope, and Steven took it.

“Garnet or Pearl should lead since they know this place best. The rest of us hold onto the rope, and no one lets go unless we all agree. Try to stay in each other’s sights. It’ll be harder to mess with our heads if we can constantly see each other.”

“For now, assume you can’t trust anything that isn’t one of us,” Garnet said, gesturing at the group. “No one else is in here. Connie and everyone else is outside trying to help, and there’s no way for any of them to get in. There are no Diamonds on Earth right now. There’s no Rose. There’s no… well, think of the one thing you want to see more than anything, and the one thing you’re terrified of, and don’t trust it if you see it.”

“As long as we stay together, we’ll be fine,” Pearl added. “Let’s get back to the Heart and—” She cut off abruptly and turned, frowning. “Do you hear that?”

“Are the hallucinations already starting?” Amethyst asked, looking around. Steven frowned, tilting his head.

“No, I can hear it too. It’s almost like… like water…”

“Oh no,” Pearl murmured, eyes widening. “The waterfalls.”

“Steven, bubble,” Garnet ordered. “Amethyst, change into something big enough to tie a rope around that can also stick to the bubble.”

“Could you maybe be a bit more specific?”

Steven’s bubble popped up around him, and with a little bit of effort he managed to get a couple spikes to stick out of the sides. “Does having handles help?”

Amethyst nodded. “That’ll do.” She glowed and shrank down into a monkey. Garnet tossed Pearl one end of the rope and tied the other around Amethyst’s waist. She ran to the bubble as soon as she was secure and wrapped around the spikes, bracing herself. Garnet barely had time to grab the middle of the rope before water came rushing around a nearby corner.

There had never been any chance of escaping it.

The water crashed over them, sending them all spiraling down the hallway. “Hang on!” Garnet yelled. Steven felt absolutely useless, but he knew why Garnet had wanted him in a bubble — water wasn’t great for breathing.

It felt like the ground had disappeared, and Steven thought for a moment they had stopped. His hopes were dashed as he looked around and realized the water had thrown them into an open area, with no sign of a floor below.

Amethyst slipped off the bubble, yelping, as gravity kicked in and they all started falling. “Pearl, hang on tight!” Garnet yelled back as she tried to reach out and grab Steven with one hand. She extended her arm, and had just gotten it wrapped around the bubble when her other hand slipped off the rope, and the bubble slid out from her arm.

“Guys!” Steven yelled, reaching out as if maybe he could bubble them, keep them close, keep them _safe_.

But there was nothing to stop them from spiraling into the darkness.


	2. Echo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Amethyst face their separate challenges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Minor Verbal Abuse

The ground came very suddenly. Steven’s bubble crashed against it, bounced, and popped, leaving him to fall and hit the ground.

“Oooooooow,” he mumbled, sitting up and looking around. “Guys?”

His voice echoed off the walls, and he gulped. “Guys?” Slightly louder. Still no answer. “Well, the rope _was_ a good idea,” he muttered as he stood, pulling out his phone. It had survived the bumpy ride. He put it away and looked around, trying to get his bearings. This wasn’t any part of the temple he had ever seen — it looked more like a creepy basement and the actual kind of cave one would expect to find in a cliff side.

“Okay, this is fine.” Steven took a deep breath, looking around. “I just have to find a way up. Easy, right?”

He started walking, keeping a careful eye out. It was dark, but he didn’t want to use his phone and drain the battery. “Can you glow?” he asked, looking down at his stomach and lifting his shirt. “I mean, like a flashlight, the way Garnet and Pearl do.”

Nothing. He tapped it a few times, frowning. “Flashlight mode, activate!” Still nothing. “Worth a shot.” He lowered his shirt again, ears trained, listening for any noise. He’d thought the others had been close by when they had been falling… maybe the temple had separated them. “Garnet?” His voice echoed back. “Pearl? Amethyst?”

They could have been anywhere. What if the temple had teleported them all to different floors? Or dropped one of them in lava? Or what if they were just falling forever? Steven didn’t understand why the temple wouldn’t want to _help_ them. It was their home, after all.

“Um, temple?” His voice cracked a little. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on, or how any of this works, but… we really, really need you to help us. We’re sorry about the Heart, we tried to save it, we really did. And we’re going to fix it as soon as we can get out of here and get the fountain water. But we can’t do anything if you mess with us and keep us separated.”

Steven wasn’t sure what kind of answer he was expecting. Nothing was probably the best outcome.

* * *

Amethyst had changed into an owl once she saw Garnet and Pearl both slip off the rope. It had been a good idea, props to Steven. Rope versus magic was an obvious outcome, though.

She’d try to keep up with Garnet and Pearl, and then Garnet when Pearl had disappeared, but then Garnet was gone too, and Amethyst was just flying through darkness, toward nothing…

And then she flew headfirst into the ground.

“Ow,” she groaned, changing from a pile of twisted feathers into a pile of twisted limbs. She looked up, trying to figure out where she was. Definitely not a part of the temple she had ever seen — the walls and floors were smooth, like a clean, sterilized room. “Weird magic. Right. Yo, can anyone hear me? Steven? Garnet? Pearl?”

Her voice echoed around her, and she sighed. “Okay temple. You don’t win yet, though.”

She squared her shoulders and started forward, face set. She’d find the others and punch her way out of the temple if she had to.

* * *

“Should’ve grabbed some snacks from Pearl,” Steven grumbled, rubbing his stomach. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast. “I’m so getting pizza after all this.”

He looked forward, his eyes zeroing in on what looked like an opening in a nearby wall. He ran forward, grinning when he saw it led to a gentle, upward slope.

“Ha!” He charged up the slope, stumbling a couple times. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

He ran for a few minutes before the slope evened out, bringing him onto what he assumed was the next floor of the temple. “Guys?” He tried again, looking around. Still no answer. Keep walking, then. He took a deep breath and took off again, highly aware of his own footsteps as they filled the silent air.

“Maybe I could play some music,” he mused out loud, talking to himself to fill the silence. He pulled out his phone to check it again. Ninety percent. “Save your battery, Steven. Find the gems first.”

He stopped dead, eyes wide. Wait. “The gems!” Pearl had a phone! He opened up his contacts and found her number, hitting call and putting it to his ear. “Come on, come on, come on, come on…”

It rang several times, Steven bouncing the entire time. “ _Steven I don_ _’t understand what I’m doing.”_

“ _Just say hi you’ve reached Pearl—”_

“ _They dialed my number, of course they know it was me—_ ”

Steven sighed, ending the call. The voicemail message went on for a while. He texted her instead, reminding her they had cell reception and _CALL HIM_.

“I wonder if she hears her phone going off in her gem.” Steven continued his stream of thoughts as he started walking again. “Does it echo in her head? If I went into her gem and started yelling would she hear me?”

He turned around a corner… and stopped dead. This hallway was a bit lighter, with a shadowy figure standing just on the edge of the light. He squinted. “Pearl? Garnet? Amethyst?” No, it was the wrong shape for any of them. Steven frowned, narrowing his eyes as he walked. “Whatever this is, I know you’re not real,” he informed the figure. “I know you’re just trying to mess with me, and I’m not going to fall for it.”

The figure didn’t move, or say anything. Steven stopped about five feet away when he finally realized who he was looking at. “Dad?” He shook his head hard, scowling. “You’re not real,” he said again, clenching his fists and glaring at the illusion’s back. “You’re not my dad.”

“Psh. I wish.”

It sounded _exactly_ like Greg, albeit more bitter than Steven thought his father was capable of being. “I _know_ you’re not real,” he said, louder this time. The illusion turned to look at him, and again, Steven was thrown for a moment. It was exactly his dad’s face, glaring back at him.

“I never wanted kids, you know.” Steven gritted his teeth. “If I’d known Rose was gonna up and leave me with you I would’ve stuck with Marty. I gave up all my dreams for her, and she stuck me with _you_.”

“You’re not _real_.” Steven’s voice rang through the hall.

“All that crap I had to put up with — the other gems were so _annoying_ , and I had to get that _stupid_ job, but it was for _Rose_ , and it was worth it.” He rolled his eyes. “And then she told me she wanted _a baby_. What was I supposed to say? I’d already given up _everything_ for her. All that time wasted.”

“You’re. Not. Real.”

“Didn’t you ever think it was _weird_ that I hoisted you off on the gems as soon as I could? If I could’ve left you when you were a baby I would have, but they probably would have killed you. They were idiots.”

“My dad loves me.”

“And now I’m stuck in this backwater town dealing with the constant idiocy and the stupid problems and I can’t escape because all of you need _me_ to take care of you.” His tone was grating. Steven resisted the urge to cover his ears. “You wouldn’t even have a _house_ without me. You’d just be living under a blanket in their cave. You’d have probably died a long time ago. Maybe it would’ve been better for everyone that way. Everyone would be happier without you. The town would at least be safer without _aliens_ coming to kidnap you every couple months.”

“ _You_ _’re not my dad_!” Steven’s voice cracked as he summoned his shield and threw it hard. Predictably, it went through Greg, and he disappeared into a cloud. Steven stared hard at the spot where he had been, breathing as if he’d just run several miles. He sank to his knees after a moment, scooting up to press his back against the wall and getting out his phone to make another call.

It rang twice. “ _Schtuball?_ ” The warm, kind, concerned voice of Greg Universe swept through Steven, relaxing him, and he let out a long, silent sigh. “ _You okay, bud? Connie said something about the temple being broken_ —”

“Yeah,” Steven said quickly, smiling, tears filling his eyes. “Yeah, I’m okay. We uh… we all got separated, but I’m okay. I’m looking for the others now.”

“ _Is there anything we can do? We_ _’re getting the water from that fountain of Rose’s — which is crazy, by the way. Bismuth was telling us about how she built it_ —”

Steven squeezed his knees to his chest, the tears escaping even as he laughed. “Yeah, it’s something. And no, I don’t think there’s anything else you can do right now. Maybe have a pizza ready when we get out.”

“ _Can do, bud. Are you sure you_ _’re okay? You sound upset_.”

“I’m fine, really.” Steven pushed himself up, wiping his eyes with the back of his other arm. “I should keep looking for the others and save my battery. I’ll call back in a bit and let you know how it’s going.”

“ _Okay, Schtuball. Be safe. I love you_.”

Steven hadn’t realized until that moment how much he needed to hear those words. “I love you too, Dad.”

* * *

Amethyst wasn’t sure when the hallway changed. One minute it was this smooth, creepy surface. Then she blinked — and she was in the Kindergarten.

“Aw, come on,” she groaned, looking around. “Really? Is this the _best_ you can do? The Kindergarten? Come on man, I’m over it. Can’t you at least be creative?”

“Eight-X-M, what’re you doing?”

She jumped, turning to look at the person who had tapped her shoulder — another Amethyst. One of the Famethyst, she realized, stunned. “Uh… what?”

“Come on, get your head out of the ground. We have to move out soon.”

The other gem ambled off, and Amethyst looked around. She wasn’t alone in the Kindergarten. She was surrounded by all the amethysts she had met in the Zoo. “What in the…”

She looked down — and squealed. “What in the world?!”

Her suddenly too-tall legs stumbled and went out from under her, sending her crashing to the ground. She held out her arms, mouth hanging open. She was… _tall_. No limb enhancers, just _tall_. And she was wearing the exact same uniform as everyone else, complete with the Diamond in the middle of her chest. “Whoa.” She pushed herself up, looking down with her arms out to balance herself. “This is _wild_.”

She shuffled around slowly, taking everything in. There were so many amethysts… some of them were even still coming out of the mountain side.

“Okay, okay,” she said out loud, looking around. “This is good, I’ll give you that. Very real. Way better than the limb enhancers. You’re not going to get me, though. You think I care about any of this? I don’t need to be tall, I don’t need to be _normal_. I’m good the way I am, thanks — oof!”

She grunted as she walked into the mountain-side, and grimaced, rubbing her nose. “Aw jeez…” She was standing in front of one of the holes. _Her_ hole. Or what it would have been if she’d emerged when she was supposed to. “Huh. Okay, that’s pretty cool.” She peeked in, looking around. “This is what normal Amethyst life looked like, huh?”

“Is everybody out?” One of the other amethysts yelled. “We need to go. Eight-X-M, keep up unless you plan on climbing back in the hole.”

A few gems laughed, and Amethyst couldn’t stop herself from laughing as well. “Yeah, sorry, I’m coming!” she called, jogging to catch up with the rest of the group. What was she doing, standing around? They had orders. They had a colony to help build!

“About time.” One of the other amethysts shoved her jokingly as she caught up. “Thought we were gonna have to leave you behind.”

“Psh.” Amethyst waved the gem off. “Like you’d get anywhere without me.”

The group laughed, and Amethyst beamed as they headed out into the world. This felt _great_. She was out of the ground, she was with other amethysts, what more did she need?

“Amethyst?”

The word echoed in her head, and she stopped, jerking around. The voice sounded familiar. Who…? “Pearl? Garnet? Anyone?”

Images flashed in her mind with each name. Pearl. Garnet. The voice.

 _Steven_.

The illusion popped like a giant bubble, and Amethyst stumbled again, falling. Her head was spinning as her mind tried to reconnect with reality.

“Guys?”

Amethyst propelled herself off the floor, running toward the voice. “Steven!”

She turned around a corner, and nearly ran straight into the boy. “Amethyst!” He laughed, hugging her tight.

“Man, you have no idea how good it is to see you.” Amethyst squeezed Steven as hard as she could.

“Same.” They pulled apart, gazes meeting, and they grinned. “I don’t suppose you still have the rope.”

“Sorry dude. I’m sure Pearl has another one.”

Steven’s stomach growled, and he sighed. “She has the snacks, too.”

“We’d better find her, then. Let’s go.”


	3. Shattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet has a good head on her shoulders. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sort of imaginary temporary character death (sort of. Imaginary. Temporary.)

Garnet gritted her teeth, looking down at the bottomless pit below her dangling feet. She’d lost the others in the darkness, barely managing to grab onto the edge of something before she plummeted all the way to bottom of the temple.

“Okay.” She hauled herself up onto the cliff with a grunt, peeking back over the edge. Steven had his bubble. Amethyst could fly. Pearl had survived having her gem nearly cleaved in half during the war. They could all survive that fall.

… _Right?_

_Right. They_ _’ll be fine. Let’s work our way up to the top. I’m sure they’ll have the same idea._

_Right_.

Garnet stood with that plan in mind, looking around and trying to get an idea of where she was. How far had they fallen? It had felt like forever, but the temple could manipulate space however it wanted, which made proper measuring hard.

It’d be a long way to the top no matter what. She started walking, keeping her eyes straight ahead and narrowed. She knew there was something waiting for her in this darkness.

 _Nothing is going to trick us,_ Ruby said confidently. _We_ _’re amazing_.

 _Absolutely_.

A small smile pulled at Garnet’s lips, and her sapphire-embedded hand moved to twist the ring on her other hand. She was already so used to the feeling of the rings. They had been such a great idea…

The floor disappeared from beneath Garnet’s feet. She hadn’t stepped off an edge — it just _disappeared_. Her surprised shout was short-lived as she plummeted right into lava. The molten sludge trapped her like quicksand, and it took a minute for her to dig her way back to the top. She finally broke the surface, shaking bits of lava out of her hair. “I think I like the waterfalls better,” she murmured as she waded to the closest edge she could find and dragging herself out.

 _Wandering around like this is going to get us hurt. I don_ _’t think it would hurt us to cheat_.

Garnet sighed, standing and dusting herself off before opening her third eye.

She was almost immediately assaulted by dozens and hundreds of images, overwhelming her. Not just of her own future, but the others — Pearl, shattered. Steven, dead. Amethyst, lost. Victims to the horrible games the temple was trying to play with them.

 _No, no, no, no, no_ …

Garnet grabbed her visor, ripping it off and grinding the heels of her palms into her bottom two eyes while the third snapped shut. _It_ _’s the temple. It’s just the temple. Breathe. Nobody is going to die. They’re all okay. Breathe. Everything is going to be okay_.

She took a couple of deep breaths, bringing her visor back and looking forward with a stone-cold expression. The temple wasn’t going to get the better of her.

Forward once more. Garnet kept her ears peeled and looked around, keeping her third eye firmly closed. Cheating wasn’t going to work here, where everything was chaotic and the very air felt like it was against them.

_Stay focused. Don_ _’t trust anything. We’re finding the others, we’re getting out of here, and we’re going to be okay._

“Disgusting.”

The voice echoed around Garnet, and she whirled around, surprised. Blue Diamond was standing over them, glowering. Garnet’s lip curled. “You’re not real,” she informed the Diamond coldly before turning to continue walking. But the hall had disappeared. She was in a large room. And Blue Diamond was back in front of her.

“ _Fusing_ with a member of my court.” Her voice echoed, ringing in Garnet’s ears. “How _dare_ you.”

“You’re not _real_ ,” Garnet snapped, summoning her gauntlets. Illusion or not, punching her was going to feel _good_. Sure, she had helped heal the corrupted gems. Sure, Steven had made peace with her. The past wasn’t easily forgiven, however. And it wasn’t the _real_ Blue Diamond.

Garnet raised her arm, firing off one rocket gauntlet and hitting Blue Diamond square in the cheek. Yeah, that felt good, she thought with a satisfied smile, watching the illusion stumble back. The feeling was short-lived when a hand came out of nowhere, slicing cleanly through Garnet’s form.

“Whoaahah!” Ruby and Sapphire yelled as they came apart, rolling across the floor. There was no time to recover before Blue Diamond was stepping on Ruby, just barely putting pressure on the tiny gem.

“ _Hey_! Get off me ya big…” Words failed, and Ruby summoned her little gauntlet, punching the bottom of the foot repeatedly.

“Ruby!” Sapphire pressed her hands to the the floor, and ice sprang out from around them, cracking through the ground as it sped toward the foot. If she could just move Blue Diamond for a minute, Ruby could move and—

Blue Diamond stepped down. There was brief puff of smoke as she poofed, then a crunch as her gem was ground into the floor.

 _It wasn_ _’t real._ Sapphire ran forward as Blue Diamond lifted her foot.

 _It wasn_ _’t real_. Blue Diamond was just an illusion, though. She couldn’t hurt Ruby. She couldn’t really hurt either of them.

 _It wasn_ _’t real_. Light reflected off the small shards on the floor.

 _It wasn_ _’t real_.

Sapphire collapsed to her knees, reaching out with one shaking, gemless hand, not for the shards… but for the ring right in the middle of them. “No,” she whispered. It wasn’t real. The small ring was still warm as it rested in her palm. It wasn’t real. It felt exactly the way it had the day she had put it on Ruby’s finger. It wasn’t real.

 _Then where was Ruby_?

“No.” This time it was a breathless gasp as Sapphire clutched the ring in her hand, drawing it to her chest. She fell back, pushing herself away from the shards, moving back slowly toward the opposite wall, barely noticing when she scraped her gem against the floor. “No. No, no, no, no, no…”

It wasn’t real. She curled into herself, pressing her face into her knees as a tear slid down her face, and she gave in to the building sobs. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t…

* * *

“I don’t suppose you can keep food in _your_ gem?”

“Dude, if I could put stuff in my gem, I wouldn’t waste that space on food.”

Steven sighed, pressing a hand to his growling stomach. “I hope we find Pearl soon.”

“The one time we actually _want_ her big head around and she’s AWOL.” Steven nudged Amethyst, giving her a mock stern look. “I’m kidding, I’m kid — hey, what’s that?”

Steven immediately looked ahead. There was something on the ground just a few feet away. Something small and… red.

“Ruby!”

He ran forward without thinking. “Hey!” Amethyst grabbed his arm, keeping him back. “Remember what Pearl and Garnet said? Don’t trust anything.”

“But it looks like Ruby.”

“Yeah, I know. Just… take it easy.”

They moved forward cautiously, peeking down at the tiny gem. She was out cold. “Uh… Ruby?” Steven reached out, poking her cheek. “Ruby?”

“Man, what happened to her?” Amethyst leaned over to examine Ruby, frowning. “She’s out. Ruby? Ruby…?”

Ruby’s eyes shot open and she let out a shout, her fist punching up — and hitting Amethyst right in face. Amethyst flew to the side, hitting the ground with a yelp. “Ruby!” Steven jumped back, quickly putting up a shield just in case. Ruby sat up wildly, head snapping around. “Ruby, it’s me, it’s Steven, and Amethyst.”

“What?” She looked at Steven, wide-eyed and breathing hard. “Where is she?!”

“Where’s… who? Sapphire?”

“Blue Diamond!” Ruby jumped up, fists prepped. Steven dared to lower his shield. “She separated us, she was _stepping on me_! Where’d she go? Did she take Sapphire? Sapphire!”

That last part was shouted down the hall. Amethyst groaned as she picked herself up. “I think she broke my face. What’s she saying about Blue Diamond?”

“Ruby, Blue Diamond isn’t here,” Steven said, trying to get the angry gem’s attention. “There are no Diamonds on Earth, remember? We’re trapped in the temple. It was all fake.”

Ruby slowly started to calm down, her furious expression calming into something more subdued — almost scared. “She was stepping on me.” She looked at her gemmed hand. “She… She crushed me. It felt so real.” She looked up, reaching out and poking Steven. “It was all fake. She’s not here.”

“That punch was sure real,” Amethyst grumbled as she walked back to them. Ruby grimaced, chuckling nervously.

“Sorry, Amethyst, I — wait.” She froze, looking down the hall. “Where’s Sapphire?”

“Weren’t you guys together?”

“Yeah, I heard her yelling before Blue Diamond… I mean, before the temple knocked me out.”

“It must’ve taken her somewhere else,” Amethyst said, looking around. “Let’s keep moving. We’ll find her.”

Ruby took the lead, stone-faced as they started down the hall again. “Can’t believe we fell for that,” she grumbled to herself after a minute.

“Don’t sweat it,” Amethyst said. “I did too for a minute.”

“Yeah.” Steven sighed. “Same, almost.”

Ruby softened slightly, looking back. “What’d you guys see?”

Neither was too willing to answer. It was Steven who took the first step. “My dad. Telling me he never wanted kids and he hated me for trapping him here.”

“What?” Ruby immediately stopped, whirling around. “Of course he doesn’t—”

“Greg would never—” Amethyst hastily added.

“I know, I know,” Steven said quickly, smiling. “I know he wouldn’t. I knew it wasn’t real. It was just… really convincing.”

The gems stepped toward Steven in unison, wrapping him in a hug, and he smiled as he put an arm around each of them. “I’m okay, though, really,” he assured them. “I know it wasn’t him.”

“Good.” Amethyst ruffled his hair as they pulled apart.

“What about you?” Ruby asked Amethyst as they started walking again. Amethyst blushed slightly, rubbing the back of her head.

“I dunno… it wasn’t anything… _bad_ , you know? It was… I was in the Kindergarten. But I was… I dunno, _normal_ , I guess. Like I came out of the ground at the right time, and I was with all the other Amethysts like I was supposed to be. It wasn’t anything _special_ , but it felt like I belonged with them. I guess that’s how things would’ve been if I hadn’t stayed in my hole. I would’ve just been another Amethyst.”

“Just being another gem is boring,” Ruby said. “I was just another Ruby for my entire life until I met Sapphire. There’s nothing special about it.”

“I mean, I’m not _upset_ that things turned out the way they did. I got lucky, at least I’m not stuck with Holly Blue. It’s just, you know… wondering what could’ve been.”

“I kind of get that,” Steven admitted. Amethyst peeked at him from behind her hair.

“You do?”

“Yeah, I mean, I’m not exactly a normal _kid_.” He chuckled. “Connie talks about school all the time, and all the different stuff she does, and the Cool Kids make being normal look like so much fun. I guess I don’t mind never going to school or having to go to the doctor because I’m sick, but I wonder what it’d be like sometimes.”

“I guess we never thought about it like that,” Ruby admitted.

“It’s not a big deal,” Amethyst said, shrugging. “I feel bad for you guys sometimes. Homeworld sucks.”

“Sapphire didn’t have it so bad. She was, ya know, one of those elite types.” Ruby shrugged. “Pearl was a servant, though.”

“Eh, she served _Rose_ ,” Amethyst said. “How hard could _that_ have been? I mean, they ran away and started a rebellion.”

“I guess—”

Ruby stopped dead as they turned around a corner; Steven and Amethyst nearly ran into her. “Ruby, what—”

“Cold!” Steven shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. The entire hallway was coated in ice, webbing up and down the walls and creating a giant ball right in the middle.

“Sapphire!”

Ruby ran forward, sliding slightly, and slammed into the ice ball, punching it hard. “Sapphire, it’s me! Let me in!”

Amethyst jumped into a ball and zoomed forward, hitting the ice head on and bouncing off. “That’s solid,” she grumbled, rubbing her head. Steven summoned his shield and ran at the ball with basically the same result.

“Sapphire!” Ruby yelled again, punching her gauntlet against the ice. “Come on!” Her fist started smoking, and she reared back. Her flaming gauntlet went right through the ice. “Ha! Sapphire, Sapphire!”

She hit the ice again and again, finally creating an opening big enough for her to stumble through. “Sapphire?”

The other gem was curled up tight against the wall, her face hidden, and they could just make out a soft whisper, although the words were lost. “Hey…” Ruby hurried forward, kneeling in front of Sapphire and resting a hand on her arm. “Hey, Sapphire, look, it’s me. I’m here.”

This close, she could hear what Sapphire was whispering. “ _Not real, not real, not real, not real, not real_ …”

“No, _I_ _’m_ real,” Ruby insisted, reaching for Sapphire’s shoulders. “Look at me, _please_. I’m here, I’m real. I’ve got Steven and Amethyst, too. We’re here for you. Look.”

She gently shifted her hands to tilt Sapphire’s head up, leaning in so she could find her gaze. “Ruby?” she whispered. “You’re… okay?”

“I’m okay,” Ruby assured her, brushing her hair back and smiling. “See? And look.” She held up her hand with the ring. Sapphire uncurled slightly, looking down at the hand she had been clutching the ring in. It was empty.

“You’re here…”

Her tone was full of wonder. Ruby shifted back slightly to open her arms, and Sapphire tackled her so hard they both fell over, clinging to each other and laughing. “You’re okay,” Sapphire said over and over. “You’re okay. You’re okay. I love you. You’re okay.”

“I love you too, I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m okay…”

Steven and Amethyst had stayed at the opening Ruby had created, watching the two gems. Steven was beaming. “Gross,” Amethyst said, but she was smiling faintly as she looked around. “Well, three down. Four down?”

“One to go.” Steven looked at Amethyst, who nodded.

“Right.” Ruby took Sapphire’s hand, helping her up. “Who even knows what this place is making Pearl see.”

Sapphire frowned, looking around at the icy cavern she had created. “I don’t want to think about it.”

She tugged Ruby close, kissing her, and they both started glowing as they fused. The ice around them started to crack, and Steven put a shield over his and Amethyst’s heads to protect them from the falling shards.

“Let’s get moving you two,” Garnet said, bring her visor down. “And stay close to each other.”

They hurried to catch up with Garnet, all three huddling up as they started down the hall once more. “Do you think it’s weird that we’re finding each other so easily?” Amethyst asked, looking around.

“Could be the temple trying to help us,” Steven pointed out.

“And torture us at the same time?”

“Magic has a mind of its own,” Garnet said. “It’s chaos, but it also recognizes us.”

“Steven I’m sleeping on the couch when all of this is done.”

“That’s fine.”

They walked in silence for a few minutes, staring ahead. “I don’t suppose you can future vision us to Pearl?” Amethyst asked Garnet. She shook her head.

“Already tried. There’s too many factors.”

“At least we’re moving up,” Steven said, looking around. “I think, anyways. I started in a cave and definitely found Amethyst on another floor.”

“I’m not sure where I started,” Garnet said slowly. “But I fell into a lava pool. And who knows where Ruby and Sapphire ended up when they were separated.”

“I’m pretty sure we’re moving up,” Amethyst said. “I hope we’re moving up. I never want to see this place again.”

“It’ll be fine once we get it—”

They all stopped dead when they saw a faint light ahead. “What do you think,” Steven said, “Pearl or trap?”

“Why not both?” Amethyst asked dryly. Steven raised his arm, summoning his shield.

“Any thoughts on what we’re going to see?”

“Who knows.”

“Pearl’s got a lot of secrets,” Garnet said, adjusting her visor. “Perhaps more than we thought. Be prepared.”

They moved slow, squinting as the light grew brighter. “Is there something… familiar about that light?” Steven asked, frowning.

“It’s light,” Amethyst replied. “What could be familiar about it?”

“I don’t know, it just—”

The light rolled over them, engulfing them, and they stopped dead, closing their eyes. Steven raised his shield to cover them the best he could until they could see again.

They were in White Diamond’s throne room.

Steven’s arm dropped to his side, shield disappearing. There was White Diamond, towering over all of them. And standing just a few feet away was a slim figure where a black and white leotard, gray gloves and leggings, arms spread, a lacy shawl draped over the arms.

Steven looked up at White Diamond, back at Garnet and Amethyst, and finally at the gem standing before them.

“Pearl?”


	4. Who Is In Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl faces her worst fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all I don't want to brag but I realized I forgot to update last night (I was at work and then immediately thrown into travel hell), and it's almost 1:30a and I was about to go to sleep when I remembered and now I'm updating from a motel room in Texas. If that isn't deserving of love all on its own, I don't know what it is.
> 
> (That last part is a joke I swear I'm not that egotistical. The rest is true though!)

“Ugh…”

Pearl groaned, picking herself up and looking around. “I’m getting too old for this,” she mumbled, looking around. “Steven? Amethyst? Garnet?”

No answer. No surprise. She was sure they had been flung to other parts of the temple. Move up, then. She sighed, starting off, her gem lighting up the passage as she walked. The vague hope that she would hear other footsteps or someone else calling out didn’t die, but she didn’t put much into it, either. Focus on getting to the top of the temple. Trigger the emergency back door. Get out. She wasn’t going to stick around and wait for the temple to pull some mind trick.

 _There_ _’s no one here but the four of us. There’s no one here but the four of us. There’s no one here but the four of us_.

A gentle wind blew through the hall, and Pearl gritted her teeth as she walked with more determination. “Pearl…”

 _Of course_. “I’m not falling for it,” she informed the illusion without turning around or even slowing. “And if you want my attention, you’re going to have to do better than Rose. I’m over it.”

“Don’t walk away from me, Pearl.”

“Try and stop me.”

A hand — not Rose’s hand, but still a familiar, slim-fingered hand — wrapped around Pearl’s wrist, throwing her against the wall. Pearl lifted her head to glare… at Pink Diamond. Not the Pink Diamond _she_ had known, but rather the one the Diamonds had wanted her to be. There was no kindness in the eyes that looked down on her (in a way Pink never had), and the grasp on her wrist was too tight, the smile too cruel.

This was the Pink Diamond Rose had invented to keep the rebellion on her side.

“I’m not afraid of _you_ , either,” Pearl snapped, trying to yank her wrist away. “Get off me.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.”

Pink yanked Pearl’s arm so hard, it would have popped out of its socket if she’d had bones. She hit the ground, her head snapping back, her vision blinking out for a moment. “Someone’s let you get a little out of control. It’s time to put you back in your place.”

Pearl reached for gem, drawing her spear and thrusting it up. Pink Diamond grabbed it easily, and Pearl released it to roll away and recover herself. “Is that the best you can do?” The Diamond taunted, snapping the spear in her hands.

“I should be asking you that,” Pearl snapped back, pulling another spear. “Is this all you can do? Try and beat me down?”

“Try?” Pink laughed. “As if it would be hard to beat down something as pathetic as you.”

Pearl swung the spear out, tip glowing, and fired off a few energy shots. Pink Diamond disappeared in a cloud. She reappeared behind Pearl, backhanding her, and Pearl hit the ground again. She rolled onto her back and quickly brought her spear up to block the foot that tried to step down on her.

“You can’t even fight as well as she did,” Pearl hissed through her teeth. “And she couldn’t fight to save her life.”

She kicked out, hitting Pink right in the stomach and sending her tumbling back. Pearl got back on her feet, firing again. And again, Pink disappeared.

“You’re quick-witted, aren’t you?” Her voice rang through the hall — wait, room. Rose’s room. When had she gotten here? “But that’s all you have. That’s all you’ve ever had to offer. You’re weak. You’ve always been the weak link.”

“You’re wrong,” Pearl replied coldly, looking around, fingers tight around her spear. “I know my worth.”

“Your only _worth_ has ever been what you can offer to everyone else. No matter how much you rebel against it, you’ll always be _just a pearl_.”

The clouds started swirling around her. “You think you’re so strong and so clever,” Pink’s voice teased. “But when it mattered the most you still failed, didn’t you? The one thing you’ve sworn yourself to, and you _failed_.”

The voice sounded right behind Pearl and she whirled around, intent on stabbing the illusion. There was no Pink Diamond, however, and she was no longer in Rose’s room.

“What the…”

It was White’s throne room. It took Pearl a moment to realize she no longer had her spear, but instead there was a wiggling figure in her arms.

“Steven!”

Connie? Pearl looked down, and there was her student, trapped in her arms. What was going on? Pearl tried desperately to move her arms, to let Connie go, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t make her own body move.

“ _Steven_!”

Pearl’s eyes snapped up, following Connie’s gaze… and a rock dropped in her stomach. Steven. In White’s hands. Steven, trapped. _Her Steven_.

 _Move, move, move!_ She screamed in her head, at her body, at her limbs. She needed to let Connie go, to get Steven away from White. They were children, they were in _danger_ , she needed to move, she needed to save them—

But all she could do was watch as White’s fingernails closed on Steven’s gem like claws… and yanked it out.

“ _NO_!”

The anguished scream ripped out of Pearl’s throat, and she staggered, collapsing to her knees. Connie had disappeared. Pearl just stared, horrified, at White Diamond, Steven still in her hand.

“Steven…” She reached out with shaking fingers, as if she could somehow fix this — put the gem back, save Steven’s life.

“You failed,” an almost musical voice hummed, and Pearl blinked. She was alone in the throne room. No Connie, no Steven, no White Diamond. Save for her voice in Pearl’s ears. “You tried so hard to be your _own_ gem, to be _free_ , but you never could. You were always relying on Pink, no matter what form she was in. You couldn’t be free, because you didn’t know _how_ to be free. You _need_ someone to tell you what to do. And when you’re faced with the one thing you’re responsible for, you _fail_.”

Pearl’s shoulders hunched, tears filling her eyes before she snapped them shut. “I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do. I fight for myself. _I am free_.”

“Are you?”

Smooth fingers crested against Pearl’s face before tucking under her chin and lifting her up. Her eyes snapped open, and she was looking at White Diamond again, somehow at eye level. “You were such a _good_ little pearl, weren’t you?” White Diamond hummed. “It was a wretch, giving you to Pink, but I thought you would be a good influence on her. I should have taken you back years ago.”

“I’m… not… _yours,_ ” Pearl gritted out.

“Sssshhhh, now.” One finger tapped against Pearl’s lips. “You’ve been thinking for yourself for far too long. Don’t worry, though. I’ll make it all better.”

“No,” Pearl gasped. White smiled sweetly, spreading her hands out, and Pearl moved back through air as if drawn by invisible strings. “No, let me go, _let me go_! I’m not _yours_! I don’t belong to anyone!”

“Ssshhh, ssshhh,” White hummed. “I understand you’re upset. Pink pushed you beyond your programming. She probably broke you, poor thing. I’ll have you fixed up in no time.”

“Let me go,” Pearl tried to say, but what came out instead, to her horror, was, “Thank you, my Diamond.”

“Of course, little Pearl.” She lowered back to the ground, her eyes drifting down, and she saw that her clothes had changed. Gone was the jacket she had been so proud of, and the jeans, replaced with a black leotard outlined with a white accent, a silky shawl cape draped over her outstretched arms.

“No,” she choked, only it came out as, “Thank you, my Diamond. I appreciate your generosity, my Diamond.”

 _Let me go. Let me go._ _**LET ME GO** _ _!!!_

She couldn’t see herself, but she didn’t have to. She knew exactly what she looked like, because it was what she had looked like before Pink Diamond — her pale blue eyes and peachy hair were washed out in gray, her face set in an ever-present neutral expression. White Diamond’s perfect Pearl once more.

“Oh look at you,” White cooed. Tears welled in Pearl’s frozen eyes as she tried to scream out. This wasn’t her. This wasn’t her. She wasn’t… _hers_ anymore. “I’ve missed having a good Pearl.”

 _Let me go!_ “Is there anything I can do for you, my Diamond?”

The words tasted bitter. _I_ _’m not yours, I’m not yours, I’m not yours, let me go_ …

“Pearl?”

Ice flooded through Pearl’s form. That voice. Steven. No, it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. It was another trick. All of this was a trick. “Ah!” White Diamond smiled. “Some entertainment. Perfect. Pearl, why don’t you show me what you can do with that pretty spear?”

Pearl’s arm raised of its own accord, her gem glowing as she pulled her spear and turned. It wasn’t just Steven — Garnet and Amethyst were there as well. All three looked horrified.

 _No, no, no, no, no_ … “Yes, my Diamond.”

“Pearl, what—”

Garnet grabbed Steven by the back of his shirt and pulled him away as she jumped, dodging Pearl’s attack. “What’s wrong with her?” Amethyst called, pulling her whip.

“She’s being controlled by White Diamond,” Garnet said, setting Steven down and summon her gauntlets. “Or the illusion of White Diamond.”

“She’s being controlled by an illusion?” Amethyst jumped out of the way as Pearl jumped at her, just barely missing being stabbed.

“We’ll figure it out later. Just try not to get stabbed. _That_ _’s_ real.”

Steven pulled away from Garnet, running off in the other direction. “Hey, Pearl! Over here!”

Pearl whirled around, looking at Steven as he waved his arms for her attention. _No, no, no, no_ , she begged even as she turned and darted off toward Steven. _No, Steven, move,_ _ **no**_ _—!_

A bang rang through the air as Steven blocked the blow, gritting his teeth. “Pearl, come on,” he begged, pushing back. “I know you’re still in there.”

Her expression was dead, eyes gray and lifeless. But inside, she was screaming. _Let me go, let me go, let me go, I AM NOT YOUR PEARL,_ _ **LET ME GO!**_

Steven grunted as Pearl pushed back against him, his foot sliding against the floor. “Pearl, please—”

The shield shattered, and Steven stumbled back, completely unguarded.

“Oh, what a good show!” White Diamond said happily. “I do love what Pink taught you. Now, Pearl. Kill him.”

“No you _don_ _’t_!” Amethyst yelled, cracking her whip at Pearl. Pearl whirled, letting the whip wrap around her spear and pull it away. Another spear was drawn to block a blow from Garnet. Steven watched, mouth hanging open. Pearl had taken out six gems all on her own once. It would have been seven if Ruby hadn’t save Sapphire. She was the Terrifying Renegade. She was ruthless. She could shatter all of them.

“ _Pearl_!”

Steven dove at Pearl, tackling her from behind, and they tumbled down, Pearl crashing to her knees, Steven hugging her tight. “I know you’re in there,” Steven said, arms tightening around Pearl’s slim body. “And I know this isn’t you. You don’t belong to anyone. Not to me, not to Mom, not to White Diamond. You’re your own Pearl. _You_ _’re a free Pearl_.”

 _Steven_ …

Pearl gritted her teeth, struggling against the weight in her mind. _My perfect Pearl_ _…_

 _No._ _**No** _ _. I. Am. Not._ _**YOURS!** _

One hand released the spear, fighting as she raised it to her gem. “You’re free,” Steven whispered, hugging her tighter. “You’re free. You’re free. You’re free.”

“I…” Her hand pressed against her gem, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I… am… _free_!”

Her fingers grasped her gem, ripping it away, and light exploded through the room. Amethyst and Garnet covered their eyes, not sure what they were going to see when the light died away.

Pearl collapsed to the ground, taking Steven down with her, and for a moment he was afraid she had poofed. “Pearl?” He straightened up, eyes wide, finding Pearl. She was on the ground, back in her jacket and jeans, groaning. “Pearl!” He threw himself at the gem, dragging her up and hugging her tight. She slumped against him a moment, trying to reorient herself.

“S-Steven?” She blinked a few times, then yanked back, grabbing his cheeks. “Steven! You’re okay! Are you okay? Your gem—”

She quickly lifted his shirt, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw the gem right where it was supposed to be. “Oh, you’re okay.” The words were nearly a sob as she crushed Steven against chest. “You’re okay.”

Garnet and Amethyst approached slowly, unsure about anything that had just happened. “Pearl?” Garnet ventured. “What happened?”

“I’m not hers,” was the whispered response Garnet received. “I’m not hers, I’m not hers, I’m not hers, I’m not hers…”

“Not… whose? White Diamond’s?”

“I thought you belonged to Pink Diamond?” Amethyst asked, bewildered. Pearl shook her head, breathing shakily as she finally released Steven, wiping her eyes.

“I was… loaned to Pink Diamond. To remind her of her place. She didn’t have anything that was really hers, not after she lost — not when they took her own Pearl. I… I served White Diamond for several thousand years before that.”

She shuddered, checking her arms, her jacket, looking for any hint of the lacy costume White had put her in. But it was gone. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Steven finally asked quietly.

Pearl laughed hollowly, pushing herself up and wrapping her arms around herself. “What does it matter?”

Steven stood, half reaching for Pearl. He wanted to ask her about it, but it wasn’t the time, and they all knew it. “We should keep going,” Garnet finally said, looking around. Pearl looked relieved for the distraction.

“Oh, Steven, you must be hungry,” she said, tapping her gem. Out came two energy bars and a bottle of water.

“Thanks,” Steven said quietly, taking the snacks. He wasn’t really hungry anymore.


	5. Who Is Who

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get weirder. Somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeeeeh. Not my best chapter. Sigh.

"Do we even know if we’re moving up?”

Amethyst had finally gotten sick of the silence. They were all secretly relieved. “I think so?” Pearl looked up. “It feels like we are.”

“We’re going the right way,” Garnet said confidently.

“Do you know that for sure or are you just hoping if you say it enough it’ll be right?”

“Yes.”

Steven sighed, finishing off the water and tossing it to Amethyst. She caught it in her mouth and munched happily. No excuse for littering when Amethyst would happily eat the litter. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. “It’s Connie,” he said as he answered and put it on speaker. “Hey, what’s up?”

Static buzzed through the phone, followed by Connie’s broken voice. “ _Ste_ _— Steven! Steven!_ ”

“Connie? What’s wrong?”

More buzzing and static. “ _We_ _’re… something… need help!_ ”

“Help with what? What’s going on?”

Static, then screaming, and an explosion. “Connie? Connie!” Steven gripped his phone tight. “What’s going on?!”

“Hang on,” Pearl said, summoning her own phone. “Oh, sorry Steven, I didn’t even think of my phone…”

She pulled up Connie’s number and hit call. “ _Hello_?” Connie answered after two rings. “ _Pearl? Is something wrong?_ ”

“Did you just call Steven?”

“ _What? No, I was on the phone with my mom. Why?_ ”

They looked at Steven’s phone. He frowned and ended the fake call, sticking it back in his pocket. “Apparently the temple can mess with technology as well.”

“ _Are you guys okay?_ ”

“We’re getting through,” Pearl said tonelessly, looking at the others. “Be careful with any calls you get from me or Steven. I’m not sure if this works both ways.”

“ _Okay. Be safe, everyone_.”

Pearl ended the call, and held her hand out to Steven. “I don’t know if putting them in my gem will protect them, but it’s worth a shot.”

Steven hesitated. He didn’t want to give up his phone… but he also didn’t want to get another fake call. “Okay,” he finally said, handing it over. Pearl stored both phones in her gem, sighing.

“We really can’t trust anything, huh,” Amethyst said grimly.

“We can still trust each other,” Steven said firmly. “We’ll get out of here.”

They huddled closer together, focusing forward. The thought of being trapped here forever was on all their minds, but no one wanted to say it out loud. “What else do you think the temple is going to try?” Steven asked, looking around.

“Well, separating us and and digging into our minds didn’t work,” Pearl said grimly. “Now it seems like it’s trying to slow us down with tricks—”

She cut off and whirled around, wide-eyed. “Did you see that?”

They all stopped, looking back at her. “See what?” Garnet asked, already summoning her gauntlets.

“It was a shadow…”

Amethyst yelped, whirling and drawing her whip, cracking it against the air. “What was that?!”

“What?”

“Something touched me!”

“It’s the temple,” Garnet said firmly, straightening up and dismissing the gauntlets. “It’s trying to slow us down, like Pearl said. Keep moving.”

They exchanged wary looks. Amethyst kept her whip out, pulling it tight as they walked. “We’ll get out of here,” Pearl said under her breath. It was hard to tell if she was talking to them or to herself. They unconsciously bunched together a little more — Pearl wrapped her arms around Garnet’s bicep, Steven grabbed her the hem of her jacket, then reached back and took Amethyst’s hand.

“Any other nasty things we should be worried about?” Amethyst asked, looking at Garnet and Pearl. They were the oldest, after all. They had longer pasts.

“Well, there’s always the war,” Garnet murmured. “Ruby and Sapphire separately don’t have any terrible memories to play off…”

Pearl kept her head down, feeling the eyes on her. “I… I don’t know, I can’t think of anything.”

They fell silent again, listening raptly. The faint sound of water dripping started echoing in their ears, and they all clung closer to each other. “This is like a horror movie,” Steven said after a moment. “I bet Sadie would love this.”

“We’re not inviting your friends to the temple,” Pearl said. “At least not while it’s like this.”

“I know. Still, this’ll be a cool story… in a couple weeks.”

“Maybe a month,” Amethyst said. Something brushed against Steven, and he shuddered, looking around. “You okay, Steve-o?”

“Yeah. Just the temple, right?”

“Yeah. Just the temple.”

The dripping got louder. Or maybe they were just more aware of it now. They turned around a corner, and the hall began opening up more. “Hey, maybe we’re getting—”

Something slammed into them. They all yelled as they were bowled over and ripped away from each other. No no no no no not again! Steven shook off the veil that had settled over him, stumbling up.

“Guys, guys! Are you—?”

He froze. They were all still there, and they weren’t alone. “Uh…” He met his own bewildered gaze. There was two of everyone there now. Perfect copies.

“Whoa,” one of the Amethysts said. “This is wild.”

“Don’t get distracted,” one of the Garnets said. “The temple is trying to confuse us.”

“So…” Steven said slowly, “how do we figure out who’s real?”

“Well, that’s simple,” one of the Pearls said, looking around. “We can just… um…”

“Come on, we know each other,” one of the Amethyst’s — the same one? — insisted. “You all know _I_ _’m_ the real Amethyst.”

“No way!” The other Amethyst said. “ _I_ _’m_ the real one, don’t listen to her!”

“Okay, okay.” Garnet. “Everyone just stop, we’ll figure this—”

“That one’s definitely the real Amethyst!” Steven was stunned by his own voice. His doppleganger was pointing at one of the Amethysts, who beamed.

“See, Steven knows what’s up.”

“H-Hang on, I’m the real Steven!” This was _not_ going to end well.

“No way, he’s lying! You believe me, right Pearl?”

“She’s not the real Pearl!” one Pearl said.

“Oh my stars.” The other one mumbled. Steven was pretty sure that was the real one.

“O- _kay_!” he yelled, waving his arms. “We have to figure this out!”

“I say we start poofing and see who has a gem,” one of the Amethysts said, drawing her whip.

“That’s a terrible idea!” Steven was starting to get a headache.

“Guys!” the other Steven yelled, imitating Steven’s attempts to restore order. Steven gritted his teeth, sighing. There had to be a way to figure this out. The temple knew everything about them. Did it know their memories too?

“Garnet what was the first nightmare I had after I moved into the beach house?!” Steven finally yelled over everyone. Silence fell, and they look bewildered before one of the Garnets finally answered.

“One of the characters from your shows came to life and wanted to smother you with hugs and you were afraid it was going to crush you.”

Everyone looked between each other before Garnet summoned her gauntlets and punched her clone. It poofed without any gems falling. Both Pearls and Amethysts drew their weapons, ready to fight, and the other Steven summoned his shield. “Hang on.” Garnet grabbed him. “Tell me about the tea cup incident.”

“Uh…”

“I felt sick on the tea cups at Fun Land!” Steven called, grinning. Garnet poofed the clone. One of the Amethysts yelped as another tied her up with the whip, and the Pearls swung their spears, meeting each other blow for blow.

“Amethyst, how did we find you?” one of the Pearls demanded.

“I fell on your head,” the tied up Amethyst said. “I was aiming for Rose, but she moved.”

Steven summoned a shield and threw it through the fake Amethyst. “Why do I always get tied up?” Amethyst grumbled as she untangled herself.

The Pearls were still in a standoff. One shoved against the other, spears twirling as they lunged again. “Of course Pearl would be the one who ends up fighting,” Amethyst said, standing up.

“Pearl, first time you were poofed,” Garnet demanded. One of the Pearl’s hesitated, her expression flickering for a moment, and she shoved the other Pearl away.

“It was the fourth battle. Bad intel.” She paused. “Actually, Pink Diamond misunderstood the message Yellow sent about the attack. She kicked herself about it for a while.” She pulled back, pressing the tip of her spear against the other Pearl’s chest. “Nephrite took me out when I was covering Bismuth.”

She pierced the clone through the chest, and it disappeared into smoke. “Good call, Steven,” she said, giving him a smile, and he grinned.

“The temple’s trying harder to keep us apart,” Garnet said as they gathered back together. “We must be getting close.”

“Great, so we can’t even trust our eyes now,” Amethyst grumbled, pushing closer Pearl.

“We can still trust each other,” Garnet said. “We know each other. We know what questions to ask. We’ll get through this. Let’s keep moving forward. The worse the attacks get, the closer we’re getting.”

“So how does this… trigger work, anyways?” Steven asked as they started off again.

“It’s a crystal — nothing with a living mind, don’t worry,” Pearl asked quickly. “In theory, we can charge it with our own energy, and open the portal that was closed when the Heart cracked. Then we have to try and get the portal to open to the Heart so we can get the water in.”

“Hopefully they’ve got Lapis ready to go,” Steven said, looking up. Everything seemed so dark, and he had a nauseating feeling in his stomach. He was afraid. “How long do you think we’ve been in here?”

“I’m not sure.” Pearl frowned. “Time works differently here. Are you tired?”

“No. Just wondering how long it’s been out there for them. What if we lose years?”

“At best we might lose a month,” Pearl assured him. “No one is going to out-age you. Don’t worry.”

Steven nodded slowly, looking ahead. There was a light at the end of the hall, around a corner. “Should we be worried about that?” Amethyst asked.

“Probably.” The others readied their weapons, and Steven squared his shoulders. Their worst fears could be around the corner. Their greatest dreams. Their fiercest enemies. _Anything_.

They inched ahead, Garnet the first to look around the corner. “What is it?” Pearl whispered.

“Nothing.” Garnet walked around the corner, bringing the others with her. It was just a room. A brightly lit room — not like White’s room, just… bright — welcomed them. It was large and empty, almost like the Diamond throne room.

“Is… this it?” Amethyst walked toward the middle of the room. “Where’s the crystal?”

“If I remember correctly…” Pearl turned in a slow circle, absentmindedly drawing another granola bar from her gem and handing it to Steven. “There.”

She started walking off toward a random point in the room, stopping when the floor lit up under her right foot. A screen popped to life in front of her, and she frowned, tracing out a shape. The screen flashed red. “Rose.” She huffed, pressing a hand to her forehead. “Garnet, I don’t suppose _you_ remember the pattern?”

“Let’s see.” Garnet walked over, tracing another shape. The screen flashed red again. “Nope.”

Pearl groaned, turning away. “Great. There’s a limit on how many times we can try and unlock it, too.”

“How’re you so sure about that?” Amethyst asked.

“Because I helped Rose set up the security system and I was the one who suggested a limit.”

“Then how do you not remember how to unlock it?”

“Because it’s been six-thousand years and I’ve been worried about a few other things since then!” Pearl whirled on her heel once, twice, then again, facing Amethyst and Steven again. “Okay, think. Think like Rose. Oh, I can’t keep up with that amount of nonsense.”

Garnet coughed to cover a laugh. “How many tries do we have?” Steven asked.

“Five total, so three left.”

“And what happens if you get it wrong five times?”

“An alarm system kicks in and tries to kill us until the right pattern is entered.”

Steven blinked several times, stunned. “Was… that really necessary?”

“It was right after the war, I was highly paranoid.”

Steven looked down at his shirt, then back at the screen. “What about a star?”

“Hmn… seems a bit obvious. And simple.” Pearl turned back to try it anyways. Red screen. “Two tries.”

“A rose?” Amethyst tried. “Like, the flower?”

Pearl projected one, frowning as she turned it over. “Too complicated.”

“Hm…” Amethyst tilted her head. “A sword?”

Seemed reasonable. Pearl tried that. Red screen.

“One try,” Garnet said. Pearl huffed, pressing a hand to her forehead.

“Future vision?”

“Not useful with all the chaos.”

“So, something simple, and something Mom would remember,” Steven summed up. “Some kind of symbol? Like, ya know, the star is the symbol of the Crystal Gems.”

“Yeah, but we already tried star,” Amethyst pointed out. “What else is there?”

Pearl looked up, eyes wide. “Wait… no. She wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t what?” Garnet asked. Pearl frowned, turning back to the screen. Slowly, and very deliberately, she drew out one last guess on the screen. The Diamond Authority symbol. And the screen flashed green.

“Seriously?” Amethyst said in disbelief. “She went with _that_?”

“Well, no one ever would have guessed.” Pearl sighed. A panel in the middle of the room slid open, and a pedestal rose out of it, with a bubbled crystal right in the middle.

“That’s it?” Steven guessed as they walked closer to it.

“Mmhm.” Garnet picked up the bubble, gently popping it, and the crystal fell into her palm.

“So what do we do?” Steven asked, getting up on his tiptoes to see it. Garnet knelt, and Pearl leaned in so everyone was level with the crystal.

“In theory, Garnet and I should be able to charge the crystal and use it to open the portal back to the beach house, which should stabilize the temple long enough for us to fix the heart.”

“In theory?”

“Well, it’s not something we’ve ever actually _tried_ …”

Garnet’s gems began to glow, and Pearl sighed as hers did the same. The crystal slowly lit up, first glowing red, then blue, then white. “Is it working?” Steven asked. On cue, the crystal rose into the air, and everyone watched as it shot toward the crowd, exploding in a ball of light. When it faded, there was a swirling portal in front of them.

“Uh…” Amethyst looked at everyone. “We’re sure this is _safe_ , right? Like we’re not going to end up on another planet or in alternate universe where Pink Diamond never became Rose or something?”

“The portal between the temple and the house has only ever been two ways,” Pearl said.

“That’s not a yes or a no.”

“Only one way to find out,” Garnet said, standing. She grabbed Steven, putting him on her back, and scooped Amethyst and Pearl up under one arm each. “Everybody hold on tight.”

They all clung to Garnet as she jumped into the portal.


	6. In The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, this is weird. I usually do either one-shots or 20+ chapter stories with buckets of angst and pain. Writing a regular adventure of the day fic was fun too, but... I like my usual format better.
> 
> Anyways, thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing! This started out as a dream, literally, and turned into a fun fic to write. I appreciate everyone's comments and love <3

They were falling through darkness.

Steven clung to Garnet’s neck, pressing his face into her hair as he yelled. He wasn’t the only one; Amethyst was shrieking, and Pearl had covered her eyes with one hand, the other still looped around Garnet’s arm.

What if they had messed up? What if they were just falling forever…and ever… and ever… and—

They hit the ground.

Or, more accurately, _Garnet_ hit the ground, sending Steven flying off her neck, and he fell in front of her, while Amethyst and Pearl landed on either side. All four groaned.

“Guys!”

Steven’s eyes snapped open to see Greg and Connie racing toward him, upside down. Well, _he_ was upside down. “Schtuball!” Greg beat Connie, scooping Steven up and hugging him.

“Dad!” The boy laughed, arms wrapping around his father. Pearl and Amethyst sat up, and Connie barreled into Pearl from behind, hugging her tight.

“Oh, hello!” Pearl laughed as she turned to hug Connie. Amethyst looked down at Garnet, who had landed right on the coffee table and broken it.

“You okay, G?”

The fusion silently held one thumb up.

“Amethyyyyyyyyst!” Peridot dropped down from the loft, landing on Amethyst’s back. Lapis and Bismuth chose the slightly more dignified way down by using the stairs.

“Are you all okay? What _happened_?”

“It’s a long story.” Steven said. Greg finally let him down, and Connie threw herself at him, hugging him tight. Bismuth scooped up Garnet and Pearl. “Did you get the pizza?”

“Well, I did, but it’s… kinda been four days since that call.”

“ _What_?” Steven yelped, looking around in shock. “Four days?”

“I _did_ say there might be some time displacement,” Pearl pointed out. “Although four days isn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting… did you guys get the fountain water?”

“Oh yeah, tons.” Bismuth jerked a thumb toward the warp pad, and they all looked to see easily a hundred or so large buckets filled to the brim.

“You aren’t going to get lost in there again, right?” Greg confirmed, looking between all of them.

“It’s stabilized for now, but we really do need to get the Heart repaired.”

“Right… magic stuff. So, I’m gonna go get another pizza, then.” Greg ruffled Steven’s hair, grinning. “And let everyone know you’re all safe. I swear we had half the town here at one point. Be back in a bit. Be safe.”

“Aren’t we always?”

Greg didn’t look entirely convinced, but he left. His son needed a pizza. “I’m guessing this is where I come in,” Lapis said, cracking her knuckles.

“Let’s make sure we can navigate before we accidentally drop the water in a pile of Amethyst’s junk or something.”

Pearl took the initiative to stick her head back in the portal; she came out breathing a sigh of relief. It leads “straight to the heart. We have _some_ control over it, at least.”

“Let’s get this done, then.” Garnet looked to Lapis, who nodded raised the water out of the buckets and sent it ahead, following the stream in through the portal. Garnet followed her to make sure she was okay.

“Ugh.” Amethyst dropped onto the couch, scrubbing her eyes and groaning. “So, maybe we put a magic lock on the temple door?”

“Or guard it better.” Pearl leaned against the counter, crossing her arms. Amethyst looked up at her for a moment.

“Hey… Pearl?” The gem looked up, humming in acknowledgment of her name. “You uh… you helped Pink Diamond with the Kindergarten, right?”

“In a way, yes.” Pearl nodded once.

“Do you know any reason why I stayed in the ground longer than I was supposed to?” She had never thought to just _ask_. Why would any of them know the answer?

But Rose had probably known. Maybe Pearl knew.

Pearl tilted her head, frowning. “Nothing in particular I can think of that would have accounted for you. Sometimes Kindergartens are rush jobs, or the resources just don’t work and you end up with defects — oddly shaped gems, too many arms or eyes or something, you know what I mean. But the Alpha Kindergarten was basically perfect, from what I recall. Good materials, plenty of space. Sometimes gems are created by accident — a bit of extra material is fertilized, for lack of a better word, which leads to really small gems or pebbles. But I know you weren’t an accident. You had a designation.”

“Eight-X-M.” Pearl nodded. “Did you always know that?”

“Well…” Pearl ducked her head, cheeks slightly blue.

“I’m not mad about it or anything,” Amethyst added quickly. “Just… you know, I saw what things would’ve been like if I was normal, and I don’t wish for it exactly, it’s just hard not to wonder what happened?”

“Understandable.” Pearl raised her head again. “Yes, Rose and I both knew you were Eight-X-M. We were there when the Amethysts started popping out, and someone mentioned that you were missing. We went back every couple hundred years throughout the war to check and see if you had emerged yet, then the corruption happened… it fell off our radar for a bit. I’m sorry.”

“Are you serious?” Amethyst laughed. “You and Rose were trying to take care of me before I was even out of the ground. That’s kind of awesome.”

Pearl smiled. “We tried.”

The sound of wind brought their attention back to the portal, and they watched, thrilled, as the door reformed. “All right!” Amethyst cheered. The door slid open, and Garnet walked out, Lapis right behind her.

“Still some fixing to do,” she reported. “But the temple’s stable again and our rooms should be back in their places. Amethyst looked at Pearl, then the door.

“I think I’ll still stay on the couch for a few days.”

* * *

Amethyst was snoring on the couch. Steven was used to it by now, of course, and barely heard it. Garnet had wandered outside for a walk, and he was pretty sure she had gone with Garnet.

Steven was lying in bed, staring up through the skylight at the stars. He’d traveled through those stars. He’d been further than any other human. But the best place ever was still right here, in his house, with his family. And definitely in his own bed.

The house door slid open, and he sat up. Pearl was stepping in, hands clasped behind her back, eyes on the floor. She looked up when the door shut, meeting Steven’s gaze.

“Sorry, I know it’s late…”

“I was awake.”

Pearl sighed, making her way up the stairs. She sat on the edge of Steven’s bed, leaning forward so her elbows rested on her legs, her fingers tangled. “I knew what she had done the minute she let us go.” Her eyes were fixed on a spot straight ahead. “From what I gathered, she had Pink — uh, Pink Pearl, that is — constantly under control for the last six-thousand years. But she was always hopping in and out of my head. She didn’t _have_ to control me. I was made for her; I was completely loyal.” She laughed bitterly. “I was perfect. But it was convenient to have a set of eyes closer to the ground — she liked to watch Homeworld the way I saw it, or she’d need to inspect something she couldn’t see from where she was. There are huge blank spots in my early memories.

“I don’t want to say I… developed an immunity to it. She could always take control of me. But I started remembering bits and pieces of it. Pearls are created to see everything and remember everything, and eventually my gem figured out how to accommodate for the mind control. I couldn’t recall _everything_ , but the memory could be triggered by… well, anything really. Words that were said while I was being controlled, places or things I saw… I’m still remembering things today.”

Steven blinked, stunned. “Really?”

“Not as much as I used to, but something comes up every now and again. It’s all mostly mundane, but it can be a bit jarring sometimes to suddenly remember something that happened thousands of years ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Steven asked quietly. Pearl turned her head just enough to look at him out of the corner of her eye.

“Why didn’t you tell _us_ about White Diamond taking out your gem?”

Steven blanched, a hand raising to his stomach. “Oh. You um… you remembered that?” Pearl nodded slowly. “I just didn’t want you guys to worry. I’m fine.” He paused. “Is… is that why you looked at my gem after we snapped you out of that illusion?” Another nod. “What did you see?”

“I…” Her gaze turned slightly glassy. “I was holding Connie. I _fought_ Connie. Stars, if I’d hurt her…” She shook her head, pressing a hand to her gem. “White Diamond had you in her hands, and she just… took your gem out. Like it was nothing.”

“Yeah, that was kind of freaky.” Steven frowned. “It kind of hurt, but not like… I thought it would’ve felt more like… I don’t know. But it was like having a thorn taken out or something. Are _all_ gems that easy to rip out?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never tried.” Pearl crossed her eyes to look at her own gem, smoothing her fingers against it. “Let’s not find out.”

“Yeah.” Steven crawled out from under his covers and laid his head down in Pearl’s lap. She gave him a small smile, running a hand through his hair.

“Were you going to tell us?”

“I don’t know. Eventually. Were you going to tell us about serving White Diamond?”

“No.” Steven turned his head to look up at her, and she shrugged. “At least I’m being honest.”

“Yeah, but Pearl…” He rolled completely to lie on his back, his hands resting on his stomach. “I get why you couldn’t talk about anything before, but you can talk about all of it now.”

“There’s a lot to unpack. And some of it I wish I could forget.” She sighed. “It’s been thousands of years.”

Steven was looking up at her with big, wide eyes, and she sighed. “Not right now, Steven. I’ll talk to you all when I’m ready, promise.”

“Okay.” Steven sighed, and Pearl ran a hand through his curly hair.

“What about you? Are you okay?”

“Hm?” Steven refocused on her. “Yeah, I’m all right. The Dad thing in the temple kind of freaked me out, but… I know my dad loves me. Amethyst is here. Garnet is here. You’re here. Everything is okay.”

Pearl smiled. “Yeah. It is.”

The snoring stopped, and Amethyst sat up, yawning. “Aw man, is it still nighttime? Boring.” She looked around, seeing Steven and Pearl up in the loft. “’Sup?”

“Just talking about being happy the whole temple thing is taken care of.”

“Word.” Amethyst hopped up to the loft to join them. “I know we gotta go back in there eventually, but ugh.”

“What about the emergency switch?” Steven asked curiously.

“Well, the temple reset, basically, so that entire room will have gone back to normal. And hopefully we’ll never need it again.”

The door creaked open as Garnet walked in, arching and eyebrow. “Are we having a sleepover?”

Steven looked around, then laughed. “Yeah, I guess we are.”

Garnet climbed the stairs to join them, settling on the bed near Steven’s feet. Pearl leaned back, resting her hands on the bed and looking up.

“You’ve got a nice view of the sky here, huh?”

“It’s pretty awesome.”

Garnet and Amethyst pressed in to look up as well, essentially creating a smushed group of Crystal Gems. “Oooooh, that is nice.”

“Beautiful.”

Steven grinned, closing his eyes. They still had a bunch of things to worry about — like Pink Diamond’s old court and how they were going to handle the continued attacks and how they could stop anyone from getting into the house again. But they had all just survived something emotionally taxing and exhausting.

They had earned this moment of rest.

**Author's Note:**

> So........... whatcha think?


End file.
